Day Eight- Pizza Paradise

Yo Yo Yo Blog peeps.

                                    Well that's me trying to sound hip, epic fail. So, one thing I have noticed from my first eight days at Absolute...

• I haven't done much radio stuff

Which is odd, as I'm at an epic national radio station... in London! But don't think I'm not enjoying my time at Absolute, far from it. I'm loving it. As I have said before, the general atmosphere is just awesome. Everyone is friendly, and always willing to help... Even if it does mean they have to unplug themselves from their computers. Butt, it looks like things are about to change... in regard to the "No radio stuff" statement.

So my day. Another walk past Buckingham palace and once again the flag was up... I still couldn't see her :( Here's a nice picture I took of the palace this morning:

Very Pretty. So once again Guy is already at Absolute by the time I get there. He is already sorting the post, but when I get there he asks me to take over, as he has a meeting with Tim. So I sort the post, and deliver some packages to Vicky on the fourth floor, as they are too big to fit in the Pigeon holes.

Once that is done, its time for the small jobs. I stock up the fridge in reception, and in the zoo. I told you a few days ago that Absolute staff fly through Mugs, well they also fly through Diet Coke...

SILLY PEOPLE

All this obsession with diet coke... NORMAL COKE IS HEALTHIER... and much nicer. So anyway I refill the fridges with cans of drink, and then I stock up on coffee and tea things (Sugar/Teabags etc) All fun andddd games... And as per I'm knackered due to the fact I'm running up and down those bleedin' stairs.

So I complete that. Next up I have a meeting with Zoe, the person I have been supposed to meet on about four other occasion. She is a top dog at Absolute, I think a PA to a CEO... Don't quote me on that though. Anyway I meet her and unsurprisingly, she is a nice person. So we chat, I tell her who I'd like to meet, and about my Uni course.

So I say I would like to watch producers at work. I have already met Gaz and Gregg, who are producers of their respective shows. But what I want is to watch them do their job as they set up interviews, edit audio  and just see how they sort out everything. I also would like to meet the news team, as I am not too sure who they are... I have probably seen and spoken to them without realising though. Turns out, I already have a meeting with Gaz booked... WITH ME SITTING IN ON THE HOMETIME SHOW. GOOD TIMES. So look out for that on Friday :D

So the meeting concludes,and now its time for me to get on with the paper work. As I have said before, there is a board, where staff can write up stuff they need doing, AKA stuff they want us "Workys" to do. So the paper work (Recon and Live reads) has been re written in Bold letters... Looks like it has piled up. So me and Guy set to work on that. Guy works on the Live Reads, I work on the Recon.

One problem... I don't know how to do them. So I ask Marc. I think he does a bit of everything. Sometimes hes editing audio, sometimes hes covering reception and sometimes hes answering the phones during shows. The reason I ask Marc, is because his name is written in big letters next to Recon on the white board... hmmm.

Just as Marc is about to explain, I get bing bonged (The Tannoy) I have to cover reception. SO MANY CALLS, and I failed at alot of them. I covered for 15 minutes whilst Kerry was in a meeting. Then finally I get back upstairs to continue Recon. Marc teaches me. Basically, when ever a presenter does a show, they have a print out of the schedule. It includes ads, music and where any links are going to be. Through a show, the presenter, or their producer will tick the things they do, and cross out the things they don't. So "Recon" means us going through the written schedules and deleting the things the presenters don't do. To do this we use the program (Bo) Selector. This is that "Pong" looking programme I said about a couple of days back.

Here is a picture of the amount of "Recon" we had to do:

You can see I'm holding one, and Marc is also helping out on the computer next to me, due to the amount of them. Luckily it doesn't take too long, as most presenters stick 100% to the playlist... which means nothing has to be deleted.

On the work experience white board, there is a task to talk to "Brian" So i find Brian and talk to him. He wants me to listen to past Ian Wright "Rock N Roll" Football shows, and use Adobe Audition to cut out good bits. My task is to gather a load of different clips, so they can be used for Promos.

Finally some radio work!

So then I have my lunch break at 1:45pm, as I'm scheduled to meet Chloe at 3pm. She is part of the agency team. Me and Guy both go to meet her. But before the meeting can start, Kerry rings to say there is a meeting for two in the basement. So we sort the tea and coffee for it, then return to the meeting. She basically works with companies who are sponsors on absolute. For example, when a company wants to be apart of a competition, she is the one who sorts it out. She told us about her experiences with dealing with clients, and how she hates puppets in adverts. She had been at Absolute for eight years, and is leaving at the end of this week... Clearly heard I was coming to absolute.

It was very informative, and it is very interesting to hear about aspects of radio that I am not familiar with. Once that was done, it was time to sort the tree. As promised yesterday, here is a picture of how we left it...

Its thin, but its a Christmas tree :D

Turns out Guy is a perfectionist when it comes to tinsel. The amount of time he had to move it slightly to get it looking perfect on the tree... To be honest though that's the problem with Christmas Trees. You wrap tinsel around it, you think it looks amazing, then you stand back and it looks rubbish. It took about 30 minutes for us (Mostly Guy) to perfect the Tinsel. Then we put on Baubles... turns out one pack we bought yesterday isn't made up, so WE have to tie the thread for the baubles. Not fun. Luckily Guy taught me, as I had no idea how to do it.

So the tree is done and it is nearly time to go. So  I collect up some cups, put the dish washer on etc, but then I am given a task from Kerry. The Christmas party is tomorrow, but beforehand there is to be a staff meeting. So there needs to be food. Pizza to be precise. See I don't think there is actually a better combo. Alcohol and Pizza. And there is finally some Cider in the building! Hurrah!

That means this will be me tomorrow:

So there is a Pizza Express exactly opposite the building, and my task is to go over and get a quote on how much 50 pizzas would be. I go in, and they are a bit confused, as I cant say which pizzas Absolute want... and I can't say how Absolute are going to pay (As its either cash or by account) You see, absolute use Pizza Express alot for big meetings and staff parties. So Absolute get a 15% discount. Always good. After going back quick to find out how Absolute are paying, it was all sorted and there will be 50 pizzas waiting for me and Guy to pick up, tomorrow at 3:45pm :D Awesome times. There will be 25 Meaty (Which has onion on it for some reason) and 25 Veggie... (Yeah, I don't understand either)

So yeah that was my day. Not much really happened, but then again alot did. Once again an awesome day. Tiring, as usual but still mega cooool.

Tomorrow will be interesting. Depending on what happens with the Xmas Party there may be no blog... But we shall see.

But for now, You stay classy Internet

Colin

A proper picture of the Zoo, as I realised I hadn't taken a good one yet!